Towards a History of the
Brzezin Kehilah [Jewish Community]

General Features of Past Community Life in Poland

by Joseph Shaibowicz

Translated by Renee Miller

Edited by Fay Bussgang
In the Poland of the past, Jewish life was well organized. Everyone had to be
connected to the Jewish klal [community] unless he had converted. The Jewish community of the town had full
legal right to impose taxes and control the life of every individual. It could
also sentence one for crimes, even with the death sentence.

At the head of the community stood the parnesim [elected leaders], or roshim [heads] (roshekool [community leaders]). Every parnes presided over the community for a month, therefore, he was called parnes hakhodesh [monthly leader], and he was responsible for everything for that month. The parnesim had to swear a loyalty oath to the king and had to be certified by the wojewoda [governor of the province], who was the king's representative. In towns that were under the jurisdiction of noble landowners, the landowner had to certify
each parnes.

The Brzeziner parnesim had to be certified by the noble landowner Lasocki. In addition to the parnesim, there also were tuvim [elders] or tuvey-hoyir [esteemed elders] (usually they were former parnesim). Their task was to help the parnesim carry out their work. Besides them, there also were memunim [appointed officials], gaboim [trustees], and mezhgikhim [supervisors], who had to take care of health, kashrut [rules of kosher], honest weight and measure, of good behavior, of the malamdim [teachers], etc. The community also had supervision over schools and klekoydesh [clergy] (rabbis, dayonim [communal judges], khasonim [cantors] and shokhtim [ritual slaughterers]), mikvoes [ritual baths], cemeteries, and social welfare. There also was an important commission of shmayim  appraisers. They had to figure out the tax that everyone had to pay. Apparently, if poor people could not pay even the head tax, the community paid it to the king for them. Aside from these, the community also had state functions in the realm of administration and court business. As early as the 14th century we see laws where one could not sentence a Jew without the participation of Jews in the judgment.

The rov [official town rabbi] was the highest authority; hisjudgment was law. The strongest device was kherem [excommunication]. The shames [sexton] of the kahal [community council] occupied a different important position. He was the
community's representative in the government offices and also a kind of shtadlan [intermediary] with the landowner. There also was a nemen (treasurer). The kahal also maintained a royfe [health practitioner], who treated poor sick people at the expense of the
community, a barber, a midwife, and a pharmacist.

Over the individual communities stood the Va'ad Haglil (district council), which was selected at a convention of the leaders of the
communities of the district and of special delegates. The chief of the Va'ad Haglil had the title Parnes Haglil. The Va'ad Haglil met once a year to take care of all the important items and measure out the
taxes for each community in the district. The Va'ad Haglil had a district rov (Av-Bes-Din Haglil [chief judge] of the district), a government shtadlan [intermediary], a writer, shamesim [sextons] and a treasurer. Over the Va'adi-Haglilim stood the Va'ad Arba Artzot in Poland [Council of Four Lands  Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Red Ruthenia (Galicia, Podolia) and Volhynia, which for a time included Lithuania].
This central administrative body consisted of delegates from the Va'adi-Haglilim. Large communities used to send up to four delegates, smaller, up to two, and the smallest, one. The Va'ad Arba Artzot never had more that seventy-one members, and its executive body consisted of
twenty-three members. Jews wanted to support the tradition of the Sanhedrin [judicial court] that consisted of seventy-one members and the Sanhedrin Ktane [small], of twenty-three members.1

This was the time of Jewish autonomy in Poland. The Va'ad Arba Artzot was a kind of government within a government. It controlled all Jewish life in
Poland. The finance minister of Poland often took part in the sessions of the Va'ad, and the Va'ad was the officially recognized representative of Polish Jewry before the king.

The growth of Jewish settlements in Poland led to the fact that many Jews
settled on land owned by the nobility. As long as the settlements had been
small, they had been mostly concentrated on land owned by the king, and the
king had protected them as his own, since he did not want to lose them 
because of the large income he received from them.

In 1539 the nobility won a big victory over the king, and the Sejm (Parliament) that convened in Piotrkow decided that all Jews who lived on
noblemen's land would become the absolute property of the landowners.2 This created two categories of Jews. In towns belonging to the king Jews were
on a higher level. In the towns and villages of noblemen, Jews were subject to
the caprice of the landowner. If the nobleman was a fine person, he protected
his Jews from hatred, the burghers, guilds, ecclesiastical organizations, and
random anti-Semitism. If, however he was a Jew-hater, he would often blackmail
the Jews in order to extort even more money. The Jews were powerless, because
they no longer had royal protection.

There were, however, also cases when the position of the Jews truly improved
and Jews actually stood up to the anti-Semitic plague.

The noble landowning family Lasocki in Brzezin  the owners of Brzezin in
the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries  continually improved the town, built churches, and always
needed money. The Lasockis put the Jewish taxes and loy yekhrets [hush money] to good use. Therefore, they did not permit any persecution of
Jews and often supported Jews against raids from the burghers (townspeople) and
the guilds.

The dawn of Jewish life in Brzezin is not known. There are legends about Jews
in Brzezin as early as the 12th century.3 Today it is difficult to determine when the communities in Brzezin and environs came into existence. Our historians and chroniclers, alas, did not
understand the importance of registering a newly established settlement. The
majority of communities suddenly appeared in the historical chronicles shortly
before or just at the time of the Chmielnicki Uprising [uprising in Ukraine in
which countless Jews were killed and others emigrated]. It is certain, however,
that they already existed a long time before. The oldest date of the certain
existence of a Jewish settlement in Brzezin is 1564.4 Kutno, which at that time also belonged to the Lentchitser Wojewodstwo [Leczycy Province] is mentioned as having Jews in 1513. The supposition that
when King Kazimierz the Great gave Brzezin the privilege of becoming a town in
1366 a significant Jewish community was already there  has not been
confirmed.

The Polish writer Sarniecki wrote in 1558 that there were skilled artisans in
Brzezin whose products were sent to other towns in Greater Poland. A large
number of the skilled artisans were Jews.

During the 17th century the general conditions in Poland seriously worsened. The Jewish
situation became catastrophic. Chmielnicki descended on hundreds of Polish
towns and killed off entire communities. Swedish troops came to help him in the
battle, which was a rebellion against the king of Poland, and overwhelmed
entire Jewish communities. The Swedes caused great destruction in Brzezin, but
the great tragedy came later. Although the Jews were among the most loyal
supporters of Polish power, this did not prevent the church from taking
advantage of the alleged miracle of the Madonna of Czestochowa,
thought to have caused the defeat of the Swedes. The priests instigated doing
away with unbelieving Jews (the Swedes, as Protestants, had also counted them
as unbelievers) and called for pogroms against the Jews. In 1656 a terrible
pogrom occurred in Brzezin. Forty Jewish families were murdered by Hetman
[military chief] Stefan Czarniecki's troops.5 The Brzeziner Poles helped, and it is thought that at that time the majority
of the Jews of Brzezin met a violent death.6 Pogroms carried out by similar gangs also took place in Kalisz and Piotrkow.
In Piotrkow they slaughtered fifty families, the entire Jewish population.7

A short time later, however, the Jewish population in Brzezin, as in many other
Polish towns, increased greatly, not only from natural growth, but also
principally from a large immigration to Poland. Jews who had been banished from
Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, and the German provinces came to Poland in
multitudes. A portion of the banished settled in Brzezin.8

Jews in Brzezin in 1764

Subsequent to the time in Poland when the Va'ad Arba Artzot was dissolved in 1764, a census of Jews was conducted in Brzezin, as in all
Polish towns.9 The count for the head tax was applicable to all Jews without any distinction
as to sex and social standing  except for children who were not yet nine years old.

In order to establish the statistical validity of this census, it is necessary
to point out that the census was carried out by a special
inspector, who had to be a nobleman, together with the parnes hakhodesh and the rov and shames of the town.They had to go into all the Jewish houses and record the family names and given
names of all the souls in town. The Jews from the surrounding villages had to
come to the town and, under oath, register all the souls in their families.10

The Jewish population in Brzezin and environs in 1764 was given as 243. Two
hundred and three Jews lived in Brzezin, and forty Jews lived in the
surrounding seven villages that belonged to the Brzeziner Jewish community.
Koluszki was at that time a village with eight Jews that belonged to the
Brzeziner Jewish community.

After carrying out the census the inspector had to travel to Leczycy, the
capital city of the province, and deliver the registers into the hands of the
official counterswho were appointed by the Sejm. Then the Jewish inspectors had to swear an oath in the synagogue that they
had omitted no one. But, in spite of all the precautions of the law, the
registers did not show the true number of Jews in Brzezin. Paying two gulden a year per head led many Jews to find means to conceal themselves from the count. In 1775 the head tax was raised to three gulden and in 1779 by another half gulden.

Still, the count of 1764 is considered to be of extraordinary importance.
First, it took place 215 years after the first Jewish census in Poland, and it
showed the great change that had come about in Jewish life. Secondly, the first
census had been at the beginning of the Va'ad Arba Artzot (Jewish autonomy), and the new census was carried out when the Va'ad Arba Artzot was dissolved  and with it, Jewish self-government also declined.

From this census we get a little idea about Jewish life in Brzezin during that
time. Thirty houses belonged to Jewish leaders. Among the Jews were 1 tavern
keeper, 1 distiller (whiskey distiller), storekeeper, 3 tailors, butchers,
baker, lace maker, glazier, 1 balbider (kind of felczer) [barber-surgeon], and shamosim [sextons]. Two parnesim had two meshorshim [servants] each and one parnes had three meshorshim (a servant girl, a servant in the shop, and a wagon driver). There were Jews
who lived as lodgers in strangers' houses. One leaseholder in Brzezin held the
lease on the collection of the market fees (Arendarz targowy [market leaseholder]).

Of all the towns in Leczycy Province, only Brzezin is remembered as having a
Jewish bagel-baker11 and a parnes who had three meshorshim. In Brzezin there were also municipal lessees. This means leaseholders who
leased from a landowner most of his income-producing businesses, for example,
distillery, brewery, inn, toll collection (przewozoze), market fees, and sometimes mills.

In the Eight Villages That Belonged to the Brzeziner Jewish Communityb

Total # of Jews in 8 villages

Men18

9

11

1

2

5

Altogether from the town and the villages 243 individuals belonged to the Brzezin Jewish community. The general Brzeziner population in 1764 amounted to about 642 individuals; this means that approximately one-third of the population was Jewish.

Koluszki, with eight Jews, was a village at that time, and belonged to Brzezin. Return

In the 17th and 18th centuries a fine Jewish life bloomed in Brzezin that was well-known all over
Poland. There were rebbes [Hasidic rabbis] in Brzezin who were considered famous people in the Jewish
world of the time in Poland. From Brzezin they spread Hasidism far and wide all
over Poland. A notable example from that generation of good Jews
was Reb Fiszele (Efroim) Szapiro,12 who was a rov [official town rabbi] in the neighboring town Strykow and was known as Reb
Fiszele Strykower. Always absent-minded and pensive, a homebody who knew
nothing about the shape of a coin, he always ate in his private room in the
service of Torah, always practicing mortification of the flesh and fasting
while the Spirit was in the Disapora. The Holy Light [from title of
book he wrote], as the Hasidic literature dubbed him, came from Podolia, the cradle of
Hasidism. His father, Reb Jozef-Lajb, who was called by the name
Hasid because of his strict piety, was a student of Reb Jakub Jozef
from Polonnoye, one of the major students of the Baal-Shem-Tov and author of
the well-known Hasidic seyfer [book] Toldes Yakov Yosef [Family ofJacob Joseph].Reb Fiszele Szapiro was born in Belotserkovka, where his father was the rov (1743).

Because of the Haidamak [Cossack] slaughters and massacres of Jews under the
leadership of Gonta and Zheleznyak (Tamuz [June-July] 1768), Reb Jozef-Lajb, with members of his household, fled to
Balta and became a maged meshorim [itinerant preacher]. However, soon afterwards the Turks dominated this town on
one side and the Poles on the other. Not having time to run away to the Turkish
side, which many Jews had done, Reb Jozef-Lajb remained on the Polish side.

However, he could not remain there long either. Because of the frequent wars,
he had to take his wandering stick and get under way with his family. On the
way, in various towns he gave sermons and lived on alms, and upon coming to
Brzezin, he settled there. He became a preacher and taught grown young men, and
from this, frugally maintained himself. There his family branched out into tens
of families.

His son, Reb Fiszele, left Brzezin and stayed a long time with Rebbe Reb Ber, the Mezritcher [from Miedzyrzecz] maged, and also with Reb Elimelech from Lizhensk [Lezajsk]. While at the latter's,
he studied and devoted himself to Cabala [Jewish mystical philosophy], together
with the Kozhenitser [from Kozienice] maged Reb Isroel'cie. Then he returned to Brzezin, married his second wife there,
spent many years af kest [receiving room and board from in-laws while studying] and later was accepted
by the neighboring town of Strykow as rov. He had children in Brzezin  Reb Jekiel Brzeziner and Reb Icek, later rov in Zarnow. His son-in-law, Reb Rywen Kosher, was rov in Ujazd.

In Brzezin, as in the entire region at that time, the Hasidim did not have any
home base. Becoming a rov, Reb Fiszele established a nest there for Hasidism, from which he became the
spiritual leader of the movement. Being very famous as a kodesh [holy man] and a bal-moyfes [miracle worker], he had a large following grouped around him, and the great rebbes of Poland sent Jews with heavy hearts to him, and they were helped by him.

They showered him with red matbeyes [coins], that is, what he called the little golden rubles,
but he himself did not want to use the pidyones [payment for advice]. He lived on the few gulden the town paid him every week as rov. He used to give away the gold coins to poor people so they would have some
prosperity, having great pleasure from the fact that the poor could have such
delight from them.

The Rebbe Reb Fiszele had strange, one would say, non-Hasidic methods in his leadership.
He gave no one sholem [greetings] with his bare hand. His hand was always covered with a kerchief or
a towel. A story arose that once the Rebbe Reb Bunem from Pshiskhe [Przysucha] came to watch him perform the benediction.
In addition, he brought with him the Rebbe Reb Henoch from Aleksandrow. Reb Fiszele gave the sholem with his bare hand. On the spot Rebbe Reb Henoch edged forward and also received the greeting with the bare hand. It
immediately dawned on Reb Fiszele that he had given sholem without a covered hand to some stranger, causing him great consternation. He
calmed himself only after the Pshiskher told him who and what Reb Henoch was.

Rebbe Reb Henoch and the Tshekhanover [from Ciechanow] rebbe, Reb Abramele, then became his closest Hasidim, serving at Rebbe Reb Fiszele's side for many years.

Then the following story was told:

A complete upheaval suddenly occurred in the rebbe's court. The Rebbe Reb Fiszele closed himself in his secluded chamber and would no longer permit anyone near him. One could rant as long as one wanted  it was useless.
There was a commotion in the Hasidic world. There was no one to defend the Jews
during bad times occuring then in Poland because of the wars with Russia. Rebbe Reb Bunem learned about it and came running at full speed to see what was happening there. Rebbe Reb Fiszele could not refuse him and opened his closed door. When asked why he
closed himself in, Rebbe Reb Fiszele naively responded as follows:

Some time ago, a man came, very bitter; who was burdened with a large family
but had no way to support them. Rebbe Reb Fiszele advised him to play the lottery, and he promised him that he would
be successful. The man actually obeyed him, but when the man did not have
enough money to redeem the ticket at the final stage, the collector sold it to
another man, and the other man actually won the grand prize. And so, Rebbe Reb Fiszele then justified himself before Rebbe Reb Bunem  that the Almighty did not implement what he as a tsadik [saintly man] had decreed, and there was nothing more he could do  basta [enough].

The Pshiskher explained to him that a tsadik must not dictate to the Almighty how He is to help a person. Because
what right do you have to say what is to be done? A tsadik must express the wish, and Providence will then find the means to implement
the tsadik's wish.

Rebbe Reb Fiszele immediately opened his door to all those with heavy hearts, and
the people again came to cry their eyes out and find comfort.

What happened then is that Napoleon the Great, in his war with Russia, marched
with his great army through the Lodz-Brzezin region, but on account of the
great dense forests, the army got lost and could not find its way to Brzezin
and Warsaw. He demanded that the Lodz population give him a guide, but the town
of Lodz was afraid, so they ran to Rebbe Reb Fiszele for advice. He told a Jew from Brzezin who, at that time, lived in
Lodz  Reb Szmuel Berman13 or Reb Szmuel Pachter (well-known as Reb Szmuel Brzeziner)  that he
should be the guide. Reb Szmuel Brzeziner knew the local forest roads well.
Since sar vgodl nplvisroel [a prince suddenly came to the people of Israel] and Napoleon was a
great sar (interpreting the initials from theword npl to mean that Napoleon had dropped in amidst the Jews), Reb
Szmuel Brzeziner led the army to Brzezin, from which there was a wider road to Warsaw.

The story continues that finding out from Reb Szmuel Brzeziner where the great
miracle worker [Reb Fiszele] lived who had instructed him [Brzeziner] to show
the way, Napoleon sent his adjutant with the Jew to thank the rebbe for the favor and reward him. But how astounded the Frenchman was to see
before his eyes a hunchbacked old man with a snow-white long beard, sitting in tallis [prayer shawl] and tefillen [phylacteries] in a poor, utterly dark room in a half-sunken little house. The
officer was overcome by a great reverence for the great tsadik, and he asked him to express his good wishes for the French Army to win the
war. With that he poured out onto the table a considerable amount of gold
pieces as pidyen [payment]. Then for the first time Rebbe Reb Fiszele understood that the red pieces were valuable coins
with which one could buy something.

It was told in another story that a frequent visitor at Rebbe Reb Fiszele's was a poor little tailor for whom the rebbe had high regard. Once, at the time of Succos [Feast of Tabernacles], the little tailor had a lot of work. Now it was already
the eve of Succos, and the rebbe did not have the suke [tabernacle] ready, so the little tailor abandoned his work  What
do I care about scissors ? What do I care about ironing?  and he
began to build the suke for the rebbe. Rebbe Reb Fiszele, thoroughly delighted with the little tailor, asked him what he
wanted for the work  riches or long life. The little tailor asked that
the rebbe sit with him in Gan-Eden [Paradise]. The tsadik promised him. It did not take long before the little tailor became sick, and
on the same day  17thTevet [DecemberJanuary] 1822  that Rebbe Reb Fiszele, the saintly Jew, died at the age of 80, the little tailor also died, and he was buried next to Rebbe Reb Fiszele, just as he wished.

Rebbe Reb Fiszele left two sons, Reb Jekiele Szapiro in Brzezin and Reb Icek in
Zarnow, and a son-in-law, Reb Rywen Kosher, who was rov in Ujazd.

Reb Jekiele Brzeziner married off his son, Reb Jeszajele, to the daughter of a
doctor to rebbes, Reb Dawid-Chaim Bernard from Piotrkow, who had become a bal-tshuve [newly observant] at an advanced age. The Hasidim grumbled a great deal to Rebbe Reb Fiszele over this shidekh [match]. He consoled his Hasidim that because of that shidekh a cure will come into the family. And when Reb Jekiel Szapiro
became ill, he actually traveled from Brzezin to his mekhutn [daughter-in-law's father], the doctor, to undergo treatment. Reb Jekiele died
19 Sivan [MayJune] 1840 in Piotrkow.

In Brzezin Reb Jekiele Szapiro was a prominent merchant, a military contractor,
and a successful man; on account of animosity, his competitors created serious
disturbances and rebelled against permitting him to be the successor to his
great father, so the dynasty ended with Rebbe Reb Fiszele Strykower. After the death of Reb Fiszele, his student, Reb Szmuel
Aba, became rebbe in Zychlin and founded the Zychliner dynasty.14

The subsequent famous rebbe, Reb Wolf Strykower, was a son of the Tshekhanower tsadik, the Rebbe Reb Abramele. Reb Wolf married someone from Strykow, and being a Strykower
son-in-law, he settled there in the residence of the great Hasidic rebbe, Reb Fiszele. The Kotsker [from Kock] rebbe, Reb Mendele, used to say, The illustrious first rebbe, Rabbenu Yitzhok
Majer [from Ger/Gora Kalwaria], is my "gaon" [eminent scholar], Reb
Hersz Tomashower [from Tomaszow] is my "Hasid" and Reb Wolf Strykower
is my 'khokhem' [sage].15

At that time, when rebbes in Poland lived on pidyones from their Hasidim, Rebbe Reb Wolf ran a large timber business in partnership with his wealthy Hasidim, and he himself became a very rich man. He was renowned far and wide for his
great wisdom. He was an affable, popular person. He loved workers, and in his
businesses he employed only Jews. He helped the poor mit rat un tat [with advice and deed].

Later Reb Wolf relocated to Lodz and died in 1891; he was more than 83 years old.

In the second half of the 19th century, Jews in Brzezin began to develop the garment industry. During a
period of some ten years Brzezin grew to become the greatest tailoring center
in Poland. This was the glorious epoch of Brzezin, when its production and its
workers were known throughout the entire world (see chapter Tailors in
Brzezin).

Hundreds and hundreds of Jewish young people came to Brzezin from near and far
to work and learn tailoring. Later they spread the trade and the name of
Brzezin over many lands. The boisterous growth of the new industry was a
completely Jewish accomplishment, and that is how it remained, with
insignificant exceptions, until the Nazi destruction.

With their effort and virtuous hard-working lives, Jews raised the status of
the town Brzezin and the surrounding towns. From approximately three hundred
souls at the end of the 18th century, the number of inhabitants in Brzezin reached nine thousand at the
beginning of the 20th century. The Jewish population multiplied from 27.1 percent, in 1827, to more
than double in 1913. At that time Jews were 54.4 percent of the inhabitants and
formed the absolute majority of the population of the town.

Even during the time of the vicious extermination, there were still a thousand
Jews employed in the garment trade in Brzezin. On 24 April 1942 the Jewish firm
Ferszter and Bonger asked the ghetto management in Lodz not to
allow the thousand Jews that worked in their establishment in Brzezin to be
deported until they finished their military order.16

The response was that one could not oppose Hitler's command to put a curse on all Jews.

According to Dr. I. Schipper, on the eve of the evil decrees, TKhes [8 Tevet/Tamuz] 1615 there were half a million Jews in Poland. On the basis of this statement it appears that 330,000 Jews were slaughtered as a result of these evil decrees. Others believe that even more were killed. Return

See Mendlewicz's chapter in this book about his family Halberstadt. Return

Mojzesz Fajnkind, Good Jews in Poland. The same author also wrote the history of Piotrkow. As a young man he
studied in Brzezin under the supervision of his father, the old Brzeziner rov, Reb Izrael Fajnkind. Return

According to Abraham Arzi-Tenenbaum in The History of the Jews in Lodz, Reb Szmuel Brzeziner was one of the first Jews in Lodz. He was a very important community leader and one of the first dozors [Jewish community overseers] in Lodz. Return

The Great Synagogue in Brzezin

Translated by Renee Miller

Edited by Fay Bussgang
The great synagogue in Brzezin, because of its architecture, was famous
throughout all of Poland. In several articles in this Yizkor book, the history
of the destroyed synagogue was reported in detail, including information about
those who were involved with building this beautiful synagogue that brought
such honor to our town.

The Jews in Brzezin took great care of the Great Synagogue and sought to
beautify it and treat it with honor. After the First World War it was necessary
to perform a thorough renovation of the building, and the synagogue committee
undertook it as to a holy task. This can be seem from the documents from the
summer of 1925 that we present below.

Synagogue Committee in Brzezin

Brzezin, Tamuz [June-July] 1925

To the Jewish Population in Brzezin!

Exodus 25:2: and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children
of Israel that they bring me an offering.'

Exodus 25:3 :of every man whose heart prompts him to give you shall take
my offering.

Rashi: A separate amount you will offer me as an offering

For years the structure of our local town synagogue (beysakneses) had been in a ruinous condition. No longer talking about the fact that during
a period of approximately forty years, ever since the synagogue was built, we
did not take the time to paint it or to create an enclosure that would be
appropriate for such a beysamigdesh [temple in Jerusalem], in recent years, thanks to our carelessness, to our
great shame, it has been transformed into a ruin. The entire foundation is
ruined, bricks were torn out, the roof full of holes, so that the rain,
unhindered, thoroughly soaked the ceiling, and every time we came to the
synagogue, the doors were broken, the floor rotted, etc., etc.

Leaving the synagogue that was built with such dedication and effort in such a
state would be a great crime on our part, for which we could not forgive
ourselves, neither from a moral nor from a material standpoint.

Now is the best time to carry out both inside and outside a thorough renovation
of the synagogue structure, in general, to restore the structure to the state
that it deserves for such a holy house.

The newly organized synagogue committee took on this task and used its own
money to start the work.

It appears, however, that restoring the synagogue to the proper condition
demands a much greater sum of money than we had originally thought and,
therefore, we must turn to every one of you with the passionate appeal:

Help us to carry out the holy task!

What Jew would not want a share in this holy building!

Who wants to be left out of this great mitsve [good deed]!

All Jews from our town, men, women and children, too, must bring significant
amounts of donations. Each and every one must voluntarily tax himself with
proper sums of money and with all that is possible to help, so that our
synagogue can be restored to its proper stature.

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